The amount of data transferred between electronic devices has grown tremendously the last several years. Large amounts of audio, streaming video, text, and other types of data content are now regularly transferred among desktop and portable computers, media devices, handheld media devices, displays, storage devices, and other types of electronic devices.
These data transfers may occur over various media. For example, the data transfers may be made wirelessly, over wire conductors, over fiber optic cables, or they may be made in other ways. Power may be transferred with the data, or power may be transferred separately. For example, power and data may be transferred from one electronic device to another, or power may be separately transferred from a battery, charging circuit, or power converter to an electronic device.
Power and data may be conveyed over cables that may include wire conductors, fiber optic cables, or some combination of these or other conductors. Cable assemblies may include a connector insert at each end of a cable, though other cable assemblies may be connected or tethered to an electronic device in a dedicated manner. The connector inserts may be inserted into receptacles in the communicating electronic devices.
Again, the data rates through these connector inserts and receptacles may be quite high. To provide these high data rates, it may be desirable that the connector inserts and receptacles have a high signal integrity and low insertion loss.
Also, these connector inserts may be inserted into a device receptacle once or more each day for multiple years. It may be desirable that these connector inserts and receptacles are reliable and do not break or wear down prematurely. Such failures may lead to user dissatisfaction with both the cable assembly and the electronic devices that it connects to.
Electronic devices may be sold in the millions, with an attendant number of cable assemblies and their connector inserts sold with them. With such volumes, any reduction or simplification in the manufacturing becomes significant. For such reasons, it may be desirable that these connector inserts and receptacles are readily manufactured.
Thus, what is needed are connector inserts and receptacles that have high signal integrity and low insertion loss, are reliable, and are easy to manufacture.